Considering that, as already proclaimed on several occasions by the General Conference of Unesco, the Abu Simbel monuments, now endangered by the construction of the Aswan High Dam which the United Arab Republic has undertaken in order to ensure the country's economic development and to promote the welfare of its peoples, form part of the Cultural heritage of the entire human race,
Recalling the statements of the President of the United Arab Republic concerning the preservation of this human legacy which his country holds in trust,
Noting that the salvage project adopted by the Government of the United Arab Republic, involving the cutting of the temples into sections and their reconstruction at a higher level, has been subsequently recommended by the various competent technical committees, and accepted by the Executive Committee of the Campaign to save the Monuments of Nubia,
Anxious to play a part in ensuring that the Abu Simbel monuments survive to be admired and treasured by future generations,
Responding to the appeals for international co-operation launched for this purpose by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,

The Contracting Member States and Associate Members of Unesco agree as follows:

Every Contracting Member State or Associate Member of Unesco undertakes to contribute to the execution of the project to save the Abu Simbel temples by paying into the Trust Fund established for this purpose by the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, hereinafter referred to as “the Director-General”, the amounts set forth in the Annex to this Agreement, in the currency, on the dates and under the conditions specified in the said Annex.

The Director-General will not transmit these amounts to the competent authorities of the United Arab Republic until such time as the Government of the United Arab Republic has finally given an assurance that it will undertake the operations to save the Abu Simbel temples and take the necessary measures for their satisfactory completion and that it will conclude for that purpose, with one or more contractors, the contract for the work described in the specifications drawn up by the Ministry of Culture and National Guidance of the United Arab Republic (Salvage of the Abu Simbel Temples, Project II).

The Director-General will obtain all the necessary particulars regarding the payment dates with which the United Arab Republic will have to reckon in executing the contract referred to in Article I, paragraph 2. He will also receive periodical progress reports.

He will pay the amounts which he receives, in conformity with the terms of Article I, paragraph 1 and in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Agreement between Unesco and the Government of the United Arab Republic concerning the salvage of the Abu Simbel Temples to the appropriate authorities of the United Arab Republic, taking the time-table of payments due and the progress of work into account.

The Director-General will communicate a periodical information report, at least every six months, the Contracting Member States and Associate Members of Unesco concerning the implementation of this Agreement and the progress of the operations to save the Abu Simbel temples.

This Agreement shall enter into force for each contracting Member State and Associate Member of Unesco upon its signature or, if it is signed subject to ratification or acceptance, on the date of the deposit of an instrument of ratification or acceptance with the Director-General.

The Director-General will hold at the disposal of contracting Member States and Associate Members of Unesco the sums which the latter had contributed under this Agreement if the Government of the United Arab Republic does not conclude the contract for the work described in the specifications drawn up by the Ministry of Culture and National Guidance (Salvage of the Abu Simbel Temples, Project II) or if the Government, having concluded the said contract, denounced it under the conditions laid down in the Agreement between Unesco and the Government of the United Arab Republic concerning the salvage of the Abu Simbel Temples.

The Director-General shall inform the Member States and Associate Members of Unesco of the signatures affixed to this Agreement, of the terms of the undertakings entered into in the Annex to this Agreement as well as of the deposit of the instruments of ratification or acceptance mentioned in Article IV of this Agreement.

This Agreement is drawn up in English, French, Russian and Spanish, all four texts being equally authentic.

DONE in Cairo this ninth day of November 1963 in a single copy, which will be deposited in the Archives of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and certified copies of which will be communicated to all signatory Member States and Associate Members, as well as to the United Nations.
IN FAITH WHEREOF, the undersigned representatives, duly authorized to that effect, have signed this Agreement.